Our stopover before doing the Yangzi River.

We're on our way to see pandas. More later.Location marker is too far East - we're actually up in the mountains West of Chengdu.  Hello yet again!!  Wolong is included in the Wuhan PC.E+M (27 Oct)

It's 6am in the morning and we've just arrived in Chengdu on the overnight train from Xi'an.  It looks a good city but first, some kip as we stayed up late in the train dining car having a few beers. Watch this space.E+M (18 Oct)Hello again!  Chengdu is included in the Wuhan PC.E+M (27 Oct)

Accommodation in Xi'an was May 1st - described as above a dumpling shop - but it was much more than that.It was very comfortable but was essentially a Chinese fast food place - which was extremely popular and very good. Everything was on display and had tremendous variety although some things we didn't test! The weather too had changed considerably - it was warm and humid - and as we discovered at our next stop food and drink had changed to winter fare - hot oran...

Arrived late Monday morning.  Our hotel, the Jin Ya, is in a good location in one of the Hutongs and seems to be in walking distance of the centre and main sites.  It's a traditional Chinese style building with the rooms set round a courtyard - all red lanterns and coloured lights.  The staff (all young women) are very nice but their admin/registration system is pretty quirky with lots of seemingly unnecessary form...